First, the public solicitation is unusual; not new exactly, because there are dozens of funds (including the first VentureSouth Angel Fund) that raised capital publicly under Rule 506(c) (see our article here), but still somewhat unusual.
Second, the “rolling model” where a fund takes new subscriptions over time is new; again, this is not unprecedented –there’s some similarity with “evergreen” venture funds and publicly traded venture funds – but it is different from the typical closed-end, committed capital VC fund.
In combination, this is a flexible, if not entirely novel, structure for early stage investing. Only time (and a lot of it) will really tell if the median Rolling Fund outperforms the median VC fund.
So, how do angel groups differ from Rolling Funds – and why is VentureSouth adding RollingSouth to its investment options?